Bambang Trihatmodjo Asks Sri Mulyani Not To Collect Debt For The 1997 Sea Games

Attorneys for Bambang Trihatmodjo, Hardjuno Wiwoho and Prisma Wardhana Sasmita. (Didi Kurniawan/VOI)

JAKARTA - Bambang Trihatmodjo asked the government in this case the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) not to continue to collect debts for the 1997 Sea Games. Bambang's party considered that the bailout fund for the 1997 Sea Games was a state debt.

Bambang's attorney, Hardjuno Wiwoho at a press conference in Jakarta, Wednesday, March 23, explained that from the start the money given for the bailout was not from the APBN. According to him, the money came from the private sector, namely the reforestation fee from the Ministry of Forestry.

"If we look at the history of this problem, the source of the bailout funds is not from the state budget. We trace it not from the Kemensetneg treasury but from the Ministry of Forestry, the source is from the reforestation fund. The funds were actually obtained from the private sector," Hardjuno told reporters.

For information, the bailout fund that became a problem was given by the government at that time through the Ministry of State Secretariat to a private consortium of partners organizing the 1997 Sea Games, led by Bambang Trihatmodjo.

At that time, the government took IDR 35 billion from the reforestation fund held at the Ministry of Forestry. But overall, the amount of state receivables that Sri Mulyani had collected from Bambang Trihatmodjo reached IDR 64 billion.

This figure is the accumulated principal loan of IDR 35 billion-plus an interest of 15 percent with a period of 1 year or during the period from October 8, 1997, to October 8, 1998.

"If it is calculated in detail, there has never been a synchronization related to the value, but what was billed was around IDR 64 billion. So the principal was IDR 35 billion with 15 percent interest, so that's it. That is also far from fair," said Bambang's other attorney, Prisma Wardhana Sasmita.

According to Prisma, actually, the party that should be responsible is PT Tata Insani Mukti (TIM). Although at that time Bambang was serving as the main commissioner of TMI, he was not a shareholder of the company.

TMI itself is a private party that joined the Consortium of Partners for the SEA Games XIX in 1997. The joining of TMI was based on the signing of the MoU on October 14, 1996, ago. Meanwhile, from the government side, there are Kemenpora, KONI, and Menkokesra.

The implementation of the XIX SEA Games experienced cost problems because Indonesia suddenly became the host replacing Brunei Darussalam. Initially the cost requested by Kemenpora/KONI was around IDR 70 billion, then it swelled to IDR 156.6 billion.

At that time, the state had no budget allocation from the APBN side. Meanwhile, KONI suddenly asked for additional funds of IDR 35 billion for coaching athletes. Even though at that time the private consortium was only able to find funds for the implementation of IDR 70 billion.